President Obama names UN ambassador Susan Rice as his new national security adviser. Plus, protest and crackdown in Turkey.

President Barack Obama stands with UN Ambassador Susan Rice, his choice to be his next National Security Adviser, right, current National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who is resigning, second from right, and Samantha Power, his nominee to be the next UN Ambassador, left, Wednesday, June 5, 2013, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, where he made the announcement. (AP)

A big changing of the guard on the Obama national security and foreign policy front yesterday. A “defiant” changing of the guard, goes the instant reporting.

Susan Rice, early Obama supporter and UN ambassador who has taken deep heat over Benghazi, will be the president’s new National Security Adviser. The adviser closest to his side when the chips are down. Samantha Power will be UN envoy.

Republicans will rage over Rice. This second-term president seems to suggest he doesn’t care.

This hour, On Point: the Rice appointment. And we’ll look at protest and crackdown in Turkey.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Kori Schake, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and professor of international security studies at the United States Military Academy. Senator John McCain’s national security advisor during his 2008 campaign.

Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the think tank National Security Network. She served in the Clinton Administration as special assistant and speechwriter to the President, also speechwriter for Secretaries of State Albright and Christopher, and as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning staff. (@natsecheather)

Closing Segment on Turkey

From Tom’s Reading List

CNN: Susan Rice to replace Tom Donilon as national security adviser — “President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced he was bringing longtime confidante Susan Rice, the U.N. ambassador caught up in political controversy over the Benghazi terrorist attack, to the White House to succeed Tom Donilon as national security adviser. Donilon had been widely expected to step down in Obama’s second term, and the president thanked him for his service in announcing the change in the White House Rose Garden.”

Bloomberg View: What Susan Rice’s White House Promotion Means — “In the period when the Senate’s scapegoating of Rice was at its peak, Obama seemed frustrated by the manner in which she was treated. Her appointment today is partly payback for her loyalty, and a thumb in the eyes of her Senate critics. It is also a sign that the president and Rice are in sync on a broad set of issues, and here is where it gets interesting.”

ABC News: White House Benghazi Emails Show Susan Rice Got a Bad Rap — “But Rice didn’t invent the notion of spontaneous protest. And although she downplayed indications of an al Qaeda connection to the attack, that wasn’t her idea, either. Rice was the White House’s messenger on Benghazi, and although she was carrying a message that proved to be wrong, we know now that she herself had nothing to do with the crafting of that message. It turns out that Rice’s comments did come from the now-infamous CIA talking points and, while those talking points were heavily edited, the White House emails suggest Rice had no part in the editing process.”

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